T-Mobile seeks to block Verizon spectrum purchase

By Timothy B. Lee – The spectrum under dispute was acquired in an auction by a coalition of cable companies led by Comcast and Time Warner in 2006. But the cable firms have apparently decided they don’t want to be in the wireless business after all. In December, Verizon Wirelessannounced plans to buy the spectrum, which is in the AWS band, for $3.6 billion.

T-Mobile argues that the current formula does not take into account the fact that the lower-frequency spectrum that Verizon disproportionately holds is more useful than higher-frequency spectrum that T-Mobile itself owns. T-Mobile advocates that the FCC weight spectrum holdings by their market value, rather than treating every megahertz as equally valuable. more> http://is.gd/TNoEe6